1.
Scaini, Anna, et al.
(författare)
Pathways from research to sustainable development: Insights from ten research projects in sustainability and resilience
2024
Ingår i: AMBIO. - : SPRINGER. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209.
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Drawing on collective experience from ten collaborative research projects focused on the Global South, we identify three major challenges that impede the translation of research on sustainability and resilience into better-informed choices by individuals and policy-makers that in turn can support transformation to a sustainable future. The three challenges comprise: (i) converting knowledge produced during research projects into successful knowledge application; (ii) scaling up knowledge in time when research projects are short-term and potential impacts are long-term; and (iii) scaling up knowledge across space, from local research sites to larger-scale or even global impact. Some potential pathways for funding agencies to overcome these challenges include providing targeted prolonged funding for dissemination and outreach, and facilitating collaboration and coordination across different sites, research teams, and partner organizations. By systematically documenting these challenges, we hope to pave the way for further innovations in the research cycle.
2.
Zapata Campos, María José, 1972, et al.
(författare)
Organising grassroots infrastructure: The (in)visible work of organisational (in)completeness
2023
Ingår i: Urban Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 0042-0980 .- 1360-063X. ; 60:1
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
In this article we build on the concept of incompleteness, as recently developed in both organisa- tional and urban studies, to improve our understanding of the collective actions of grassroots organisations in creating and governing critical infrastructures in the changing and resource-scarce contexts of urban informal settlements. Empirically, the article is informed by the case of resident associations providing critical services and infrastructure in informal settlements in Kisumu, Kenya. Findings suggest three organisational processes that grassroots organisations develop for the production and governance of incomplete grassroots infrastructures: shaping a partial organi- sation but creating the illusion of a formal and complete organisation; crafting critical (and often hidden) material and organisational infrastructures for the subsistence of dormant (but still visi- ble) structures; and moulding nested infrastructure that shelters layers of floating and autono- mous groups embedded in communities. In a resource-poor environment, the strategy is to create incompleteness, less organisation and to keep it partial and limited to a minimum of ele- ments. The article also explores the political implications of organisational and infrastructural incompleteness by examining how it leads to efforts to craft loose and ambiguous governmental arrangements, connecting them materially and politically to formal infrastructure systems. These governmental arrangements are shifting and in the making, and therefore also incomplete. The article reveals how grassroots organisations mobilise a wide range of (in)visibility approaches. It concludes by exposing the hidden power of ‘incompleteness’ and the potential in hiding certain elements of incompleteness from outsiders, while rendering other elements visible when per- ceived as useful.
3.
Zapata Campos, María José, 1972, et al.
(författare)
Organising grassroots initiatives for a more inclusive governance: constructing the city from below
2019
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The project examines how grassroots organizations and networks providing urban critical services in informal settlements contribute to improve the quality of life of urban dwellers and to more inclusive forms of urban governance, constructing the city from below. The project is informed by the study of Kisumu’s informal settlements’ Resident Associations, the Water Delegated Management Model, and the Kisumu Waste Actors Network. The study adopted an action-research approach with researchers working with citizens, politicians, officers and entrepreneurs in all stages of the research process and used a combination of methods including document studies, ethnographic and participatory observations, visual ethnography, interviews, focus groups, social media analysis and stakeholder work- shops as well as participatory videotaping. The study discusses a) the institutionalization of grassroots organizations for the delivery of critical infrastructure and services and their need to gain, regain and maintain legitimacy; b) their flexible and nested structure facili- tating their resilience; c) their embeddedness in the communities’ knowledge and assets, and their role as social and institutional entrepreneurs to bridge informal settlements with city governance; d) the redefinition of the roles of the citizen, from passive into active agents, and its transformation into more autonomous and insurgent citizens; e) the blending of civic and material rationales and the construction of more fluid identities allowing citizens to draw pragmatically from a broader repertoire of roles and resources; f) and the creation of grassroots organizations as a collective process that emerge from different directions, with the ability to become gateways but also gatekeepers, or the top of the grass at their communities. It concludes with recommendations to informal settlements’ resident grass- roots organizations, public officers, NGOs, politicians, researchers and citizens in general, engaged in constructing a more inclusive city governance from below.
4.
Corvellec, Hervé, 1961, et al.
(författare)
Avfallsförebyggande handlar om effektiv produktion och genomtänkt konsumtion – inte om avfall. Sju lärdomar från forskningsprojektet från avfallshantering till avfallsförebyggande
2018
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Denna rapport sammanfattar de viktigaste lärdomarna från forskningsprojektet ”Från avfallshantering till avfallsförebyggande”. I forskningsprojektet har forskare från Lunds universitet och Göteborgs universitet, men också Umeå Universitet och Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, studerat avfallsförebyggande. Syftet med projektet har varit att identifiera och förklara svårigheterna med att förverkliga de avfallsförebyggandepolitiska målen. Forskarna har närmat sig projektets syfte genom innehållsanalys av avfallsplaner, kvantitativa och kvalitativa studier av avfallsförebyggande- initiativ, teoretisk kritik av stadsplanering, och kartläggning av hinder för avfallsförebyggande. Projektet har bedrivits i tät samverkan med kommuner, kommunala avfallsbolag, myndigheter, sociala rörelser och företag. Det har finansierats av forskningsrådet Formas (Dnr 259-2013-210). För den som vill veta mer finns källor refererade löpande i texten och redovisat i referenslistan i slutet av rapporten. Det går även bra att kontakta respektive forskare. Under Interna referenser redovisas de vetenskapliga artiklar, konferensbidrag, seminarier, uppsatser, reportage, debattartiklar, och nya forskningsprojekt som forskningsprojektet har lett till. På projektets webbplats www.ism.lu.se/mtp redogörs i detalj för projektet, till exempel de workshopar som har organiserats inom projektets ram.
5.
Corvellec, Hervé, 1961, et al.
(författare)
Acting on distances: A topology of accounting inscriptions
2018
Ingår i: Accounting, Organizations and Society. - : Elsevier BV. - 0361-3682 .- 1873-6289. ; 67:May, s. 56-65
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Following on the reiterated claim that accounting inscriptions make action at a distance possible, we draw on post-mathematical topology to explain that this distance work is dependent on inscriptions acting on distances. By adopting a relational understanding of space, we show that accounting inscriptions by themselves create the distances across which they operate. Our case study uses pay-as-youthrow solid waste-collection invoices in a new waste-collection program aimed at increasing the sustainability of waste management. By displaying weight and cost side by side, these invoices conduct topological operations that dissolve, create, and redefine the distance between people and their waste, between the economy and the environment, and between the city and its residents. The ability of these operations to mobilize a sense of environmental responsibility, enroll residents in the city's plans for sustainability, and translate political ambitions into individual behavior demonstrates that the performativity of accounting inscriptions resides in the efficacy of their distance work.v
